Although originally called the Acupuncture Set, the five element flower essences set has been specially formulated for easy selection by any practitioner who uses meridians in their practice. It is based on the five elements principles, and so can be used by anyone with basic knowledge of five elements.
The set comprises of ten essences for the conditions of excess or deficiency in the five Chinese elements. So there are two essences for each element, for example, Earth Deficient and Earth Excess. The essence for deficiency, Earth Deficient, would be used to treat people presenting with the indications relevant to being deficient in Earth. In addition, there are essences for balancing yin and yang (Yin/Yang Balancer) and for liberating energy (Energy Liberator). See here for full information about the set itself. Below is information on how to use the set.
HOW TO CHOOSE ESSENCES
Traditional Chinese Acupuncture
People trained in traditional Chinese acupuncture will be able to use the additional information that they find from the pulse diagnosis. For example, if the Spleen feels weak, then there is a deficiency in Earth and Earth Deficient could be given. The table of correspondences will help you to link the Meridians to the different elements. Also use the information on cycles below to help further.
Five Element Acupuncturist
A Five element trained acupuncturist might use blocks to help them choose the essence. For example, a 4/5 block is a block between the Kid and PC channels, so Water is in excess and Fire is deficient, so Water Excess and Fire Deficient could be given. If both meridians are full, try giving the Excess of each element and use Energy Liberator to move energy around the cycle. Yin/Yang Balancer is good for “husband and wife” treatment and to encourage energy to move from right to left side and vice versa. In CV/GV treatment, use Energy Liberator and Yin/Yang Balancer to move energy and bring up both Yin and Yang together.
Shiatsu
Shiatsu practitioners will find that the hara diagnosis gives them a pointer on where to start. We would suggest addressing the Kyo area first with the corresponding deficient essence as you work on the meridian. Then re-check the hara for more information. When you check the hara at the end of the session, this can help to choose essences for your patient to take away.
Dowsing
Dowsing is also a widely used method of choosing the essences. It is worth noting with dowsing that occasionally an essence comes up that doesn’t seem to make sense in terms of the control and creation cycle. In this case, it is worth checking on the individual essences within the composite as it may be the case that the client needs one of these particular essences. In this case, it is not a problem to give the composite, since the body will take energetically what it needs and ignore the rest.
Counselling and Questioning
Counselling and questioning are also ways to choose the essences, and the information below will help with this.
CONTROL AND CREATION CYCLES
On the page for each element, there is an overview of the element in balance, and some suggestions for a person to help themselves when there is an imbalance in this element. There then follows information for the excess qualities and one for the deficient qualities. If a person is showing some of these qualities, then that essence may be indicated.
So, for example, a person presenting with a lot of anger is showing excessive qualities of Wood. In this case, giving the person Wood Excess will help to address these issues. When the cause is environmental, for example, over-work resulting in excess Wood, this may be all that is necessary. However, with a little detective work and by using the control and creation cycles, it may be possible to find a deeper root cause that the disharmony may be coming from, which will obviously be more effective.
If you look at the Control Cycle, you can see that the “grandparent” of Wood is Metal. When Metal is weak, it will fail to control Wood and fail to feed Water resulting in excess Wood and deficient Water from deficient Metal.
In this particular example, by talking to the client, you may find that there is an issue surrounding unresolved loss, which would confirm that the Metal deficiency is actually the root cause of the problem. In this case, we would suggest giving all three essences to cover all angles, and we might suggest other essences to use alongside, such as Grief (see the chapter on combination essences).
This is a relatively straightforward case. However, sometimes, there is so much going on and the issues are so complex, that it becomes difficult to trace it back to one root element – all the elements seem to be out of balance.
This is where the Yin/Yang Balancer really comes into its own. If the issues also seem to be very deep and long-standing, the energy is probably very stuck as well, and in this case, Energy Liberator given at the same time can really start to get things going.
Usually things start to become more clear as the changes begin, and by the next treatment it will have become easier to unravel the thread to find the root cause.
When there is a deficiency, there is usually an excess somewhere else – but it is interesting to note that it can be within the same element. An example of this might be a client who presents with feeling depressed,having no joy, and feeling apathetic, which suggests a Fire deficiency.
Their answer may be to go out at night, go over-board with their celebrations and go too far, which suggests Fire Excess might help. In this case, both Fire Excess and Fire Deficiency can be given at the same time, along with Yin/Yang Balancer, but it may well be worth looking at the Control Cycle to see if the grandparent (Water) could possibly be the root cause.
In addition, on the overview page for each element, we have listed some suggestions that can be made to people if they have an imbalance in that element. It gives people something positive that they can do for themselves between treatments.
For example, if they are deficient in Earth, they can wear more yellow and orange, and can be encouraged to walk barefoot and chew their food slowly, all of which will help to balance out the Earth element.
HOW TO GIVE THE ESSENCES
There are different ways of working with the essences, and we recommend using whichever method feels best to you.
Essences can be given during the treatment. This can be especially useful if something acute arises unexpectedly during the session. Just put 2 or 3 drops on the tongue and carry on with the treatment. In such acute cases, we generally give drops directly from the stock bottle.
Essences can also be placed on or around the body while working in any way that feels right.
Most practitioners that we have spoken to prefer, often in addition to the above, to give the client a prescription bottle to take between sessions which reinforces the treatment you have given and supports them in maintaining change. Patients feel “held” between treatments and they have something positive that they can do for themselves.
